This invention relates to a method and apparatus for reclaiming small quantities of oil that have been used as hydraulic fluid, lubricating fluid and the like within an industrial plant or similar smallquantity user of oil.
In many industrial plants, garages and like industrial facilities, small quantities of oil are used as hydraulic fluid for controlling and operating machinery, for lubrication, for cooling fluid or for like purposes. By way of example, such a facility may use one-half to one 55 gallon drum of oil per week or per month or similar small quantities.
In use, hydraulic fluid, lubricating fluid, cooling fluid or like purpose fluid tend to accumulate dirt, sludge, water, trapped air, metal particles, such as shavings or chips, and other foreign materials. Thus, in some cases after a single use and in some cases after a limited number of uses, the oil becomes too "dirty" for re-use and must be discarded.
In the past, discarding small quantities of dirty oil has not been a problem as the material was simply dumped at any convenient outdoor location or down a sewer. However, in recent times, due to environmental protection policies, dirty oil has to be handled much more carefully and disposed of in a controlled manner to avoid contamination of land or water. In many cases, this involves arranging for the pick-up and transportation of the used oil from the industrial facility in which it had been used, arranging for disposing of the used oil or, if quantities and marketing conditions permit, for reprocessing such dirty oil in substantial quantities in order to economically reclaim the oil.
For a typical industrial facility or similar user of relatively small quantities of oil, discarding used oil is a nuisance and frequently is relatively expensive. Thus, there has been a need for an inplant system which economically processes very small quantities of "dirty" oil so that the oil may be re-used in order to substantially eliminate the problem of disposal of dirty oil. As an example of a single industrial facility in which such equipment can be useful, a metal casting foundry utilizes hydraulic fluid-operated rappers or vibrators which comprise closed cylinders containing free-floating pistons that are pneumatically raised and lowered for impacting against the cope or drag parts of a sand casting flask for the purpose of compacting loose sand applied within the flask. Such rapper or vibration equipment utilizes a relatively small quantity of oil so that in a typical installation, less than a barrel of dirty oil may be generated in the course of a month.
Disposal of that barrel of dirty oil under conditions which avoid pollution or contamination is a problem for a typical small foundry. Thus, a simplified, inexpensive piece of equipment which can reclaim that oil and either eliminate or reduce the amount of foreign material for disposal can substantially eliminate the disposal problem. Of course, other types of manufacturing facilities, including metal cutting factories and the like, can equally utilize equipment for their disposal of small quantities of dirty, used oil.